In February, the Cabinet Office published its long-awaited Government Transformation Strategy, setting out how the government will harness digital technologies, skills and tools to transform public services and put citizens first.

Central to this commitment was identity assurance – establishing that the user is who they say they are via GOV.UK Verify. In fact, the Government Digital Service said it plans to have 25 million Verify users by the end of 2020.

Another big story from earlier in the year was Microsoft’s announcement that it had launched a programme to teach digital skills to public servants across the UK to ensure the country remains one of the global leaders in cloud computing, artificial intelligence and other next-generation technologies.

This was followed later in the year by the Government’s launch of The Digital Skills Partnership and the commitment of more spend on digital skills in schools as part of the budget.

Social care delivery and funding dominated the headlines this year – and will no doubt again in 2018. This story about a number of councils being awarded funding for projects which use digital technology to transform and improve social care was a popular one.

Another big story in July was the signing of a new strategic partnership between HM Land Registry (HMLR) and Ordnance Survey (OS). The pilot partnership sees HMLR join OS at its Geovation Hub to encourage and support innovation and property technology businesses.

Many of Digital by Default’s most popular articles this year have been the guest posts – including this one on how GIS is helping to create more efficient processes, cut costs and improve tenant services – one of the hot topics for councils everywhere.

Another popular guest post was this one about the reasons for IT project failure – which tied in with the constant pressures councils found themselves under to create more, with less, in shorter than ever timescales.

The role of artificial intelligence in government was one topic that really gathered momentum as the year went on. This article about how AI may be used by the public sector to improve efficiency, reduce costs, and even deliver new services to groups currently unserved was therefore unsurprisingly popular.

And finally, big digital news from the Government in 2017 was rounded off by the announcement of the new Industrial Strategy which set out a long-term vision for how Britain can embrace technological change and boost the earning power of people across the UK.